Unions oppose Prop. 1A, but are slow to flash the cash

Labor groups will fight Prop. 1A, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s May 19 ballot measure that puts a cap on state spending and boosts California’s “rainy day” reserve fund. But it remains to be seen whether that opposition campaign will be much more than stern press releases.

“We’re going to be running a spirited campaign,” said Mike Roth, a consultant for the union effort. But when asked what that means in cold, hard cash, he said that the campaign “is not going to be talking about resources.”

Jeanine Meyer Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the SEIU, was similarly closed-mouth. The union, she said, has a policy of not discussing its political spending.

When a political campaign doesn’t want to talk about money, it’s typically because it doesn’t have much. While the California Federation of Teachers put $100,000 into the anti-Prop. 1A campaign this afternoon, the other opponents have been slow to reach for their checkbooks.

That hasn’t been the case on the other side. Budget Reform Now, Schwarzenegger’s umbrella group for all six ballot measures, has been raking in the coin, taking in around $5 million. The California Teachers Association has put another $5 million into Prop. 1B, which guarantees state schools $9.3 billion if both it and 1A pass. And GTech, the Rhode Island company with the contract to supply lottery equipment to the state, has dropped $1 million into Prop. 1C, which allows the state to borrow $5 billion against future lottery revenue.

One opponent of the governor’s slate said last month that money wasn’t important in the special election campaign since “we can beat them with robo-calls.” But if the money keeps rolling in for the other side, foes of the ballot measures better hope those relatively inexpensive calls don’t turn out to be their only option.